NORTHFIELD, Vt..-The fifth-ranked Hobart College hockey team was blanked by Norwich 3-0 in the New England Hockey Conference Championship game at Kreitzberg Arena this evening. The Statesmen are now 20-5-3 on the season and the Cadets are 24-2-2.
 
Jordan Hall factored into all three of Norwich's goals, scoring twice and assisting on a third. Brett Ouderkirk (2a) also had a multi-point game for the Cadets. Tom Aubrun stopped all 29 shots he faced as he earned his ninth straight shutout.
 
Sophomore Liam Lascelle started in goal for the Statesmen and made 24 saves in just under 60 minutes of action. Following the game, senior captain Zach Sternbach and junior Mike Faulkner were named the NEHC All-tournament team.
 
Taeron Lewis opened the scoring for Norwich at the 3:14 mark of the first period. He collected a drop pass from Ouderkirk and wristed a shot past Lascelle for his 12th goal of the season. Hall notched the secondary assist on the goal. The Cadets nearly doubled their lead at the nine-minute mark of the period. With Norwich on a power play, Felix Brassard fired a one-timer on goal that Lascelle kicked aside at the last second with his right leg pad.
 
Norwich had a golden scoring opportunity four minutes into the second period. Brassard blasted a shot from the left faceoff circle off the crossbar that bounced straight down but never crossed the goal line. One minute later, the Cadets took a 2-0 lead. Hall slipped a shot between Lascelle and the right goal post for his 12th goal of the season.
 
Sophomore Aaron Maguyon had Hobart's best scoring chance of the middle period. Shortly after Brassard rang a shot off the crossbar, he raced the length of the ice, and wristed a shot on cage that Aubrun turned aside.
 
In the third period, Norwich and Hobart traded opportunities. Forty seconds into the period, junior Travis Schneider raced down the right wing and snapped a shot on cage from the right faceoff circle, but Aubrun smothered the shot. Just past the midway point of the period, junior Ryan Lynch had a pair of point blank shots stopped by Aubrun. With just under three minutes remaining in regulation senior Lawson MacDougall fired a shot from the slot off the right goal post.
 
Hall iced the game with an empty net goal with three seconds remaining.
 
Hobart finished the game with a 29-27 advantage in shots on goal. The Cadets were 1-6 on the power play and the Statesmen were 0-2 with the man advantage.
 
Norwich, which is ranked first in the USCHO.com Poll and second in the PairWise rankings, earned an automatic-bid into the 12-team NCAA tournament. Hobart, which is ranked fifth in the USCHO.com and fourth in the PairWise rankings, will have to wait until Monday, March 9, at 10:30 a.m. to find out if they will receive one of the four at-large bids into the field.